Bearing Wear Example #1 – Bearing Inner Race Fault

Over the past 5 years, exponential improvements in unmanned aircraft technology have enabled a revolution in industrial inspection processes. As drones become highly autonomous, more reliable, affordable, and integrated with a wider variety of sensor systems, their impact on the inspection process and maintenance efforts has increased significantly.

In every industry, particularly manufacturing, businesses depend on a diverse array of physical assets to meet customer expectations. Certain assets, while not necessarily the most expensive, are fundamental to the production of goods or services, underlining their significance in operational processes. The disruption of these pivotal assets can trigger a domino effect, disrupting the entire supply chain and potentially halting operations. Therefore, it is imperative for businesses to implement comprehensive maintenance management strategies for these key assets.

“How dare you mix the modern word predictive with the ancient concept of running equipment to failure! Those are on opposite ends of the maintenance maturity spectrum! See the graphic below… what is wrong with you!”

"This equipment has given us completely new opportunities to plan maintenance activities in advance. This has meant that we've been able to minimize the number of breakdowns, thus increasing our profits." A look in the rear-view mirror tells us that before 1993, the mill suffered three or four breakdowns, caused by stock damage, every year. After installation of the SPM system, breakdowns have been very rare, which has made it possible to avoid production losses worth millions.

Chemical corrosion control. Chemical corrosion can destroy the containment materials in contact with a process. Means exist to mitigate and even prevent chemical corrosion. 

RCM may have been thought of as a strategy best left to large organizations. That may have been a perfectly logical assumption. Small-to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and lean operations simply seem to have less money to invest in and fewer resources to cope with the many activities required for RCM success. Now, however, out of joint academic/industry collaboration in Spain, comes information that may help begin to put these types of popular misconceptions to rest. The RCM methodology described in this overview of the Spanish research has been adapted to meet the specific needs of today’s smaller, leaner organizations. And it is not just a theory, either. The practicality of this approach is being confirmed through actual testing in SME and/or lean companies.

Damaged hydraulic cylinder rods and wiper seals are an eternal problem for users of hydraulic machinery. Dents and gouges on the surface of hydraulic cylinder rods reduce seal life and give dust and other contaminants an easy path into the hydraulic system. Many hydraulic cylinders also have bent rods, which cause distortion and ultimately premature failure of the seals.